In December 13, 1731, the Pelham family of Boston held what is considered to be the first known public concerts in Colonial America. By 1769, composer and musician Peter Pelham had begun a musical tradition of public concerts in Williamsburg, Virginia, at Bruton Parish. Concerts were attended by various Virginians, including future president Thomas Jefferson. In a period marked by classism in the arts, these public concerts were a glimpse of a new era that would be realized in the coming Revolution.

Established in 2024, Williamsburg Baroque continues that tradition of public concerts started by Pelham in the Williamsburg community and beyond. Each concert is committed not only to performing music of the highest caliber, but also to education. The ensemble is devoted to performing rare music of underperformed composers in addition to a Bach cantata each season. It has been our joy to introduce many audience members to not only new composers, but new instruments and for many, their first historical performance concert.

Upcoming concerts:

June 20, 2026, 7 p.m. -- Join Williamsburg Baroque for the finale of their second season, '1776: Deplorable Barbarism & Delightful Recreation.' Williamsburg Baroque is proud to present this award-winning program which recently was featured at the 2026 Bloomington Early Music Festival. The program consists of a display of instrumental music from the early decades of the nascent United States. The instrumental works in this program—all composed between 1767 and 1803 and titled after Thomas Jefferson's comments on the state of music in the land—reflect the new “Immigrant School” of early American composers hailing from Europe and across the young nation.

For this concert, Williamsburg Baroque welcomes esteemed soprano Margot Rood, whose sublime voice the Washington Post has praised as “sterling, gleaming tone and magnificent control,” has been included in recordings that have won numerous awards, including the Gramophone Award for Early Music in 2018, as well as several Grammy-winning and nominated albums. Rood will solo with Williamsburg Baroque in the rarely performed cantata by Johann Christian Bach, “Die Amerikanerin” (the American Girl), which was published in 1776, likely as a nod to the American colonies declaring independence from Britain.

Celebrate America's semiquincentennial with Williamsburg Baroque on June 20 in the heart of the historic triangle!

All concerts held at Bruton Parish Episcopal Church

201 W. Duke of Gloucester Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185

williamsburgbaroque@gmail.com